A Step-by-Step Guide to the Rebrand That Boosted This Organization's Fundraising by 25%
This 10-step case study breaks down the exact branding, messaging, and rollout strategy we used to help one nonprofit rebrand, and achieve its best fundraising year ever.
We at Effct.org just wrapped up a successful rebrand for a client.
It was a big reason they had their best year of fundraising ever by 25%.
Here's the step-by-step guide on how we turned Summit Advocates into ARISE, and ascended the organization to new heights.
1. Decide if a rebrand is actually needed
First, we probed the client, formerly known as Summit Advocates, whether a rebrand was needed at all. I would never recommend one unless the client feels it is completely necessary. Rebrands are usually time-consuming and expensive. The client was sure. Their current brand felt haphazard and incomplete. It also didn't translate well for Spanish-speaking clients. So we proceeded.
2. If your organization was a person, what would it be like?
Next, we had a conversation with the Summit Advocates team about the persona of their organization. We asked them to imagine the organization as a person. What music does it listen to, what books does it read, what artists does it love, what does it watch? We took these findings and made a vision board, which you can see above.
3. Talk to Stakeholders
From there we conducted focus groups with current clients, volunteers and other organizations including the police department to understand their perceptions of the organization. Results showed that clients were grateful for Summit Advocates. But we found that most people felt the organization was not well-known in the community. Also we found the current identity of Summit Advocates didn't line up well with what the organization itself does, which is provide support to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.
4. Brainstorm Imagery, and Find Brand Inspiration
Based on these conversations, and what the organization aspired to be, we began pulling together imagery and iconography that better represented Summit Advocates. We also discovered other logos of organizations Summit Advocates looked up to. We leaned into logos that were clean, simple and aspirational.
5. Conduct the Renaming Process
Now it was time to start the re-naming process. As a collective -- Effct.org and Summit Advocates -- we came up with two names we loved. We put them into a survey alongside the original name, and asked which resonated the most. We received 108 responses and... all of the names fell flat, averaging a score of around 5/10. Back to the drawing board.
We decided an acronym could serve the organization well. So we came up with various acronyms that also spelled words, and represented the key things the organization does. Those included, SOAR, PEARL, ARISE, and RISE. Again we got more than 100 survey responses in English and Spanish. People liked these a lot more.
In the end ARISE prevailed with a sentiment score of 7.4/10 -- marked increase!
We made sure the acronym ARISE fit well with what the organization does, and that it translated well into Spanish.
Advocacy, Resiliency, Intervention, Safehouse, Education
Apoyo, Refugio, Intervención, Seguridad, Educación
6. Determine Your Color Scheme
Now that we had the name, it was time to create the colors. We knew the org wanted colors that felt positive and vibrant as well as tones the felt safe and empowering. We as a collective team drew inspiration from the outdoors in Summit County as well as a mural in the orgs office. You can see some of the colors we fleshed out as well as finalized below. In the end the client was thrilled by this color scheme.
7. Develop the Logo
Now the really fun part: logo development. We worked with our design team to develop a handful of options. Internally we whitled it down. Then we presented the options to Summit Advocates, and narrowed the choices down to four concepts, and received feedback.
8. Mock up how your favorite logo or two logo choices look on merch
9. Make your choice, and stick with it!
The choice was clear. The client loved this option.
From there we created a logo package and other materials like a branding guidebook, which included fonts and how to talk about the brand.
10. Bring your new identity to the world
We took this new identity to the community, which loved it. We built them a new website (arisesummitco.org), created content, videos, photos of the ARISE team, and other materials that led to a massive increase in fundraising -- 25% higher than the organization's previous best year. We also saw an increase in the number of people requesting services. The client was thrilled.
Conclusion and What to Do Next
Rebrands are large undertakings, but sometimes are necessary.
A good rebrand partner and client should be communicative and flexible. I am immensely grateful for the amazing and collaborative team at ARISE as well as Ashtyn Austin, our Creative Projects Manager at Effct.org who took a leading role in this project.